New Free Tool Can Detect Flashback Malware Infection

A new tool that can detect the Flashback Trojan on Mac computers has been developed and is available online for free. The Flashback malware is reported to have infected more than a half a million Mac computers.

The tool was developed by Juan Lean, a programmer at Garmin International, according to PCWorld. It can be downloaded from Github and works on the Mac OS X 10.5 and up. When run, it will either say that the program has found “No signs of infection” or provide further information. F-Secure has posted removal instructions on their site here.

The Flashback trojan takes advantage of a vulnerability in unpatched versions of Java in OS X. It poses as a browser plugin and may allow attackers to access personal information and passwords stored or used on the computer. Apple has released an update to fix the vulnerability in Mac OS X 10.6 and OS X Lion that have java installed. cNet has posted instructions on protecting prior Mac versions, as it appears that Apple will not be providing a fix for them, as they no longer support earlier versions.

Jimmy is an assistant editor and a writer here at News For Shoppers. He has more than two decades of experience in the shopping industry, having worked in sales and marketing in both the technology and fashion industries.